Sandstone Press

The Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature 2009.

Posted by RLD on 22nd November 2009

Short listed author John Allen, of Cairngorm John: A life in mountain rescue, was present at the Award Ceremony in Kendal on Friday 20th November supported by his wife Ann, two Sandstone Press Directors and our North of England representative James Benson.

The event was superbly organised by the committed and generous Boardman Tasker Committee. The families of both the late, great climbers and authors Pete Boardman and Joe Tasker were not only present on the day but extremely active.

The afternoon event was, to coin the well worn cliché, a game of two halves. Both were superbly organised and delivered.

In the first, climber, author and former Boardman Tasker winner Stephen Venebles interviewed each of the authors in turn with the exception of Chic Scott who had not managed the long journey from Canada. In fact two Canadian authors had reached the short list and the only novelist, Jerry Auld, gave a very impressive interview and reading. So did the eventual winner from America Steve House, author of Beyond the Mountain.

Stephen had obviously done his home work but, in addition, seemed to find a natural empathy with all the authors. John Allen and Jerry Auld perhaps made some additional impact by dint of their books being rather different from the more normal run of big expedition, big climb books.  Stephen Venebles described Cairngorm John as ‘unclassifiable’. Really though, all of the authors were impressive with Steve also rather standing out because of the high risk taking element of his particular branch of human nature. He was also extremely articulate and obviously intelligent.

In the second half, Chairman of the Judging Panel Phil Bartlett took on the mandarin task of explaining his panel’s thinking and giving some account of the books. Like the best of such judges he delivered their decision with as much humour as authority.  Here is part of what he had to say about Cairngorm John. Our whole party was very pleased to hear these words and not a little humbled.

‘What impressed us was the way it was so cleverly underwritten. This is as civilised a book as one could write on the subject perhaps, but not ineffective. Some of these simply told dramas stay in one’s mind. There is no infantile medical humour, and no suspicion, as there sometimes is with rescue books, of the author aiming to make money out of other people’s tragedies. This is a fine testament to a great British tradition of voluntary service.’

Of Jerry Auld’s novel he had this to say ‘. . . it just seems to be so very difficult to write convincing mountaineering fiction. We think Jerry Auld has succeeded in doing so in his book Hooker and Brown, in which he takes three contrasting characters working in the Parks Service in the Pacific North West and sets them an intriguing tale: the existence or otherwise of the eponymous peaks, Mounts Hooker and Brown, located somewhere in the vast backcountry but still unclimbed. The technical quality of the writing in this book is of the first order.’

Pride of place must be given, even in this unashamedly partisan article, to the winner Steve House and his book Beyond the Mountains. Phil Bartlett said this, ‘We are talking about the sort of commitment, the sort of suffering that, even in this room, is probably beyond the direct experience of most. House’s commitment is exemplified by his outrageous solo climbs,
including the second ascent of K7 in Pakistan. And yet it is one of the mysteries of this book that the value House claims to put on friendship does not ring hollow’, and, ‘We think it is an exceptional book. Entirely worthy to stand alongside Pete and Joe’s.’

I look forward hugely to reading it. It was a great pleasure to be present at the Awards ceremony, not least because it was so well done. Nor is it usual to be in the company of four Everest summiteers, as we were with the short listed Dominic Faulkner, Stephen Venebles who joined us at our table, Doug Scott whom we met previously at Eden Court, and of course Sir Chris Bonington who provided such a generous introduction to Cairngorm John.

It was perhaps appropriate that the prize eventually went to a book by a great Himalayan climber writing on great expeditions, the book most closely similar to those of Peter Boardman and Joseph Tasker. Everyone who goes to the mountains will find something rich in these, late authors’, books and all of those short listed for The Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature 2009. Our thanks go again to everyone involved in this wonderful literary competition.

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Phil Bartlett’s judgement can be read in full on the Boardman Tasker web site here http://bit.ly/6WwzzV

The Boardman Tasker Omnibus can be purchased from Amazon here http://bit.ly/4pu7hq